


lets go surfing

by blackwoodhart



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: F/M, Jiara - Freeform, Surfing, big john def bought him his surfboard, i just rly wanted to write more surfing w jiara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:27:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26542924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackwoodhart/pseuds/blackwoodhart
Summary: everything good happens in the surf
Relationships: JJ/Kiara (Outer Banks)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 59





	lets go surfing

**Author's Note:**

> ok and maybe i wrote this because i recently moved to one of the best breaks in australia and ive missed surfing so much  
> also i wanted to write a little JJ & Big John moment bc we all know that man loved JJ like a son

When Kie had first shown up in the boy’s lives there had been little discussion needed about bringing her in to their circle. Pope was excited to tell his science facts to, someone who would actually understand them. John B was simply excited to have a new friend. JJ only needed the answer to one question.

“You surf?”

It was as simple as that.

JJ _loved_ to surf. As a little kid, it was his way of escaping the chaos of his house. The first time he surfed with John B, his friend cried out in excitement as JJ made it back to shore.

“You’re so good!” John B was practically vibrating with excitement, “can you teach me?”

John B was pretty good on his own, he had good co-ordination and ambition, plenty of ambition. The boys spent almost every afternoon out in the surf sharing JJ’s board which was covered in 100 mile an hour tape and had its fair share of dents. After weeks of begging, John B got his own board from Big John with no cracks or dents. The boys raced down after school, now accompanied by Pope who they’d picked up a few days before, to try out the new board. John B and JJ taught Pope to surf too and soon enough the three boards lived at the Chateau.

JJ didn’t like favours, didn’t like owing people or feeling like he should do good by them because of their kindness. The first thing he ever accepted was the board.

It was the week after an incredibly uneventful Christmas. Pope was finally back from his trip away to stay with some family in Dakota and the three boys were relaxing at the Chateau after a long day of absolutely nothing.

“Hey son,” Big John said as the front door clanged behind him.

“Hey, dad!” John B called from the couch.

“I meant my other son,” Big Jon came over and ruffled his boy’s hair, “but hey son”.

John B leant into his dad’s side as Big John settled in between him and JJ.

“So, other son,” he said turning to face JJ.

JJ always felt a pang in his chest when Big John talked to him like that. He thought of his own father at home, drunken into a stupor by midday, bitter in his own mind. It was nice to have someone like Big John in his life, someone who cared and wanted to be there for him. He’d sat with JJ at the dining table and helped with maths homework, given him every ride he needed, introduced himself to teachers as JJ’s dad, hell, he’d come to parent-teacher interviews before.

“Wanna come with me?”

In JJ’s house, that kind of sentence never ended happily, but Big John wasn’t like that.

Outside was cold and damp, the winter chill thick in the air.

Big John led the boys down to the shed.

“Dad?” John B said from the back of the small group, “what are you doing?”

“I do feel a bit bad not having anything for you boys,” Big John scratched the back of his neck and smiled apologetically at his son and Pope, “but the kid needs something”.

JJ stared at Big John, his eyes bugging. For him? He wasn’t even his real son!

“Go on!” Big John said, gesturing to the shed, a small smile creeping on his face.

The door creaked as JJ opened it and he silently prayed that it wouldn’t completely fall off his hinges. Things did that a lot at the Chateau. He fumbled in the dim shed for the light switch for a second before finally landing on it.

There, in the centre of the shed, propped against the ride on mower that was collecting dust, was a surfboard.

JJ shot his head out the door and gaped at Big John.

“Are you serious?”

Big John grinned, “deadly”.

It was just his size, with new fins and a leg rope. The body was a tiny bit banged up and there were a few dents in the face, but it was a board. An almost brand new, shining board. And it was his.

JJ brought it out and laid it on the grass.

“ _DAD_!” John B raced over and dropped in the grass next to JJ, quickly followed by Pope. They oohed and ahhed over the board for a few minutes together before JJ stood and turned to Big John.

The man was stood a few metres back, wringing his hands.

“Do you like it?” He looked nervous like he was worried he’d done something wrong.

JJ took several big steps and flung himself into the man’s arms. Big John’s laugh reverberated in his chest and his arms came around JJ. There was real comfort in Big John that JJ couldn’t find anywhere else. He chose to let himself revel in the feeling for a moment.

“Thank you,” he said into the man’s jacket, “for everything”.

“No, JJ. Thank you. You’ve done so much for my boy, been the brother he didn’t get,” Big John said, smoothing down JJ’s wild blonde hair, “just promise to use it”.

Another pair of arms came around JJ from behind and where he normally would have felt trapped, he felt safe.

“C’mere, Pope,” called Big John to Pope and there he was. JJ’s family, all here safe in his arms. What more would you want?

Kiara, apparently.

The three boys ran amok for years after that, Big John never holding them back from an adventure. Pope’s parents learnt to trust Big John’s guidance, despite how loose it may have been.

“They’re kids,” he’d said to Mrs Heyward when Pope had returned home one day with a scraped up leg from falling out of a tree, “they need this kind of stuff. Every scar will be a fond memory someday. There was no ‘feminine guidance’ for a long while until the day JJ got into one of his fights after school. The boys had rushed to his aide and landed themselves in a world of trouble with the eight graders JJ had decided he had a bone to pick with. He had gotten his ass thoroughly kicked.

“Hey,” called the girl from the end of the parking lot, “get lost!”

She came riding up on her bike and dumped it on the ground as the other guys sped off on their bikes. She raced to join the boys crouched over JJ.

“Can I help?” She asked frantically, scanning JJ’s body in concern.

“Can you help clean him up?” John B asked, leaning back on his hands as JJ finally sat up.

“Piss off, I’m fine,” he said, smacking at Pope’s hands and smiling sheepishly at the girl. He brushed his hands off his shorts and stuck out his hand to her, “JJ”.

“Kiara,” the girl said, shaking it, “and yeah, where do we go?”

“Chateau?” Pope suggested.

John B and Pope proved to be useless at taking care of injuries, regardless of how many fights JJ got himself into, it was Kiara who took care of him.

JJ’s knuckles were split and raw and he hissed as she ran them under the cool water of the bathroom sink.

“You got any antiseptic?” She asked John B, leaning against the sink next to JJ and rubbing a washcloth against his face.

“Let me ask dad,” John B nodded and turned from where he and Pope stood in the doorway.

“Sorry about this,” JJ said through gritted teeth as Kiara ran her fingers gently over his knuckles, “that’s Pope,” he said gesturing to the boy in the doorway.

“And I’m John B,” John B said as he returned, “dad says under the sink”.

Once she had worked the grit from the cuts on his hands, Kiara dug under the sink for the amber bottle of antiseptic.

“Tell me, JJ, what do you do for fun?” She asked, unscrewing the lid of the bottle.

“What kind of question is that in a time like this,” JJ quipped and he raised an eyebrow at his friends who shrugged as if to say _I don’t know man, humour her_.

“Just tell me,” Kiara demanded, staring intently as she poured the bottle into her cupped hand.

“Alright… well I like to surf,” he started, “actually I love to surf, we all surf do you su- _holy christ!”_ his question was cut short as Kiara brought her hand over his and let the disinfectant rinse over his knuckles.

“I was _trying_ to distract you,” she said as she poured a bit more onto the split skin. She glanced up as he winced and watched as he drew his lip between his teeth. “Sorry”.

The procedure was over shortly and JJ thanked her a few times.

“Do you need to head home?” Pope asked from where he and John B were waiting on the couch.

Kiara checked the time and hissed, “shit! I do.”

“It's alright,” said John B as he stood to show her out, “you go to Kildare?”

“I do now,” Kiara said with a smile, “moved the other day”. She stood in the door for a moment as she weighed up her way to say goodbye.

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow?”

The boys all looked at each other, knowing they all had come to the same conclusion. This girl was good, she took care of JJ’s idiocies without blinking an eye, she joked with them and could have a laugh.

“Yeah,” John B smiled, “see you tomorrow”.

From that day forwards, the Pogues were complete. Kie became a permanent fixture in their lives. She kept up with their antics, always keen to tag along. Where most of the girls at Kildare found the boys odd, Kiara loved them from the moment she sat with them. She was equally as odd, with her love for nature and her alternative perspective, she gave them a good run for their money in the mischief department as well, which JJ admired.

When the first day of spring dawned warm and bright, the Pogues skipped school. The weather was too good to pass up and JJ, who had spent the night, had burst through John B’s bedroom door, puffing.

“Surfs up, call Pope and Kie”.

The pair had appeared at the Chateau within the hour and Big John drove them all down to Rixton’s Cove. The waves were gorgeous.

JJ hopped out first, already making to grab his board from the roof.

“Look at that!” He called to his friends as he pulled his board down, “she’s calling us!”

It was a wonderful day. The boys had never seen Kie surf and she took to water like a fish, even giving JJ a run for his money as she refused to chicken out on some of the bigger waves that crashed through. When she came off her first wave, disappearing under the whitewash for a moment, the boys had waited in tense silence, waiting for her to come back up. She burst through the waves, pulling on her leg rope to bring herself back up onto her board, laughing and wiping at her eyes. She paddled out to where the boys sat on their boards out the back grinning.

“How’s that for a closeout?” She called over the boom of a wave hitting shore.

“Had me scared for a second!” Replied John B with a smile, spinning his board as he lined up his next wave, “promise to save me if I drown?”

Pope, from the far side of the break, called, “not a chance am I kissing you!”

JJ threw up his hands.

“A mack is a mack, John B”

They laughed the whole afternoon.

Summer was always the best.

Kie’s parents were apprehensive about her staying at the Chateau and her mother had dropped her off one morning and spoken to Big John.

“She sleeps on the couch”

“Yes ma’am”

“I don’t want any funny business”

“No ma’am”

“You gonna take care of my girl?”

Big John had looked over at the Pogues, huddled on the pullout together, laughing at something on Pope’s phone. John B might as well have been sitting in Pope’s lap and Kiara had an arm around JJ’s shoulder, him leaning against her as he snorted.

“Always, Anna. These are my kids, I’m always gonna make sure they’re okay.”

The summer belonged to The Pogues. Now, four years from their first summer, their break before senior year, nothing had changed. Nothing and everything.

Big John’s room was JJ’s now, filled with posters from surfing magazines and clothes spilling from the cupboard and strewn across the floor. There was a new Pogue. Sarah was looking like a permanent addition, and after everything she had done for John B, done _with_ John B, she was far too deep to back out now.

It was the summer after the summer of the gold. John B and Sarah had returned after nine weeks in the Bahamans, sunburnt and frantic. They had the gold. There had been a long process in obtaining it.

You see, where Ward Cameron had gone wrong was putting the money from the gold into a bank account, one under Sarah’s name. The legal battle he had pulled was one of the scariest things the Pogues had dealt with. They knew who he was, what he did, what he would do to them to get what he wanted, and he was close to winning until Sarah testified. She’d gone through hell for the Pogues. Ward had relied on the fact the Pogues were using a public prosecutor, but when Sarah had taken her story to the police the whole thing had tipped on its head and the teenagers won in a landslide.

There had been a lot of tears when the final verdict was announced. The Pogues had been gathered in the Chateau anxiously waiting for the call that would change everything. John B was pacing the kitchen, reliving the past few months as Sarah tried to comfort him from her spot on the counter. Pope and Kiara were sitting on the couch mumbling to each other about what could go wrong and what it would mean for them. JJ was leaning out the window behind them, having a cigarette.

When the phone rang, no one moved. Sarah’s phone was face-up on the coffee table and the name _Janice Keating Attorney_ flashed up at them.After a long moment, Pope tapped the screen twice and Janice’s voice filled the room.

“Sarah?” She asked the silence, “you there?”

“Yeah,” Sarah croaked as she slid off the counter and pulled John B to the phone, “I’m here, we’re all here”.

“Great! Am I on speaker?”

“Yeah,” Sarah repeated herself. Her hands were shaking.

“I have some good news and some potentially bad news,” said Janice, her voice light, “which do you want first?”.

The Pogues all looked around at each other. JJ was leaning back in from the window.

“Good,” he said.

“The county of Kildare hereby declares that John B Routledge, Pope Heyward, Kiara Carrera, Sarah Cameron and ‘JJ’ Maybank rare the rightful owners of the lost gold of the Merchant.”

The room fell apart. Sarah turned in to John B, burying her head in his chest, Pope threw himself back against the couch and cheered, Kie’s head fell into her hands and JJ sprung from the window, cigarette still between his fingers, shouting.

Laughter crackled from the phone.

“I thought you’d be happy!” Janice said to the group, “you guys deserve this, you’ve really gone through it”.

It took a minute for the Pogues to calm back down and John B and Sarah came to sit on the pullout while JJ perched on the arm.

“So what’s the bad news?” John B asked.

“Uhh, well, yes,” Janice stumbled over her words, “Sarah, would you like to speak privately?” Her tone had lowered and something about her words sent chills up Kiara’s spine.

“It's okay, anything you need to tell me they’ll find out anyway,” Sarah replied.

“You’re aware of the charges you pressed against your brother and father?”

Sarah hummed.

“They went through.”

The group let out a sigh of relief. It was truly over, the fight was done.

“Ward Cameron,” Sarah read from her phone later that evening, “charged with; two counts of aggravated assault, manslaughter, corruption of evidence, forgery and attempted kidnapping”.

JJ let out a low whistle, “impressive list”.

Kiara thumped him in the arm.

“Have some sensitivity, idiot”.

Sarah continued.

“Rafe Cameron, charged with; aggravated assault, corruption of evidence and manslaughter.”

“Jesus,” said Pope, “thank god it’s over”.

“I’ll drink to that!”

Everything went up from there. Sarah moved into the Chateau with JJ and John B, not that Kie and Pope didn’t practically live there anyway. They all came to the unanimous decision that, now that they each had more money than they could poke a stick at, until they knew what they were doing, they would leave it in their accounts until everything was sorted out.

It was summer after all.

One warm night in the last few weeks of break, the Pogues decided to do something they’d always meant to and spent the whole day and night down at Rixton’s. The surf was pumping the whole day so they spent it out in the water with short food breaks in between sets. Kie re-waxed her board four times, something she’d never had to do before. Just before dark, the group was a few beers in and feeling like kids again for the first time in forever.

“I have an idea,” JJ said from where he lay in the sand.

“Oh god help us,” Pope said with his eyes trained skyward.

“Okay, asshole,” JJ retorted.

Sarah snorted, causing Kie to start laughing.

“Well, is it a good one?” asked John B, taking another drink.

JJ thought for a moment as he watched the waves crash on the sand.

“No”

“That settles it,” said Kie, “we’re in”.

“Alright, so I’m thinking,” he continued.

Pope groaned, earning himself a handful of sand to the face.

“Okay, ready?” JJ looked at them all, eyes glimmering, “naked surfing”.

 _“Sweet lord,_ ” Sarah laughed out.

John B put his hands to his face and Kie leant against Pope who was now doubled over wheezing.

“Fuck guys, he’s serious,” said Kie when she saw the glint in JJ’s eyes hadn’t left.

They all looked at one another.

“You’re lucky this is our beach,” said John B as he stood.

“This is fucking stupid,” said Kie from behind the makeshift curtain she and Sarah had fashioned by hanging their towels over a low hanging branch.

“Definitely,” Sarah agreed as she pulled her shirt over her head, “even for JJ”.

There was laughter from the boys who had decided to strip out on the beach.

“I mean, it was to be expected,” Kie continued as she shucked her board shorts.

“What’s the bet they’re comparing dick sizes out there?” Sarah asked, peering through a gap in the curtains.

Kie shook her head.

“They’ve already done that.”

Sarah snorted.

“Who won?”

“They never told me,” Kie said as she tossed her bikini over the branch to drip dry. If she was gonna surf naked, she might as well have something dry to put on when they got out. “JJ told me I’d have to find out for myself”.

Sarah shot her a look.

“Which I declined, thank you!”

“Are you two done yet?” JJ called.

Kie sighed and smiled at Sarah.

“You’re in luck!” She shouted back.

Kie had been naked in front of the boys before. That sounds bad. She had gotten wasted and thrown up on her clothes. Then she had barricaded herself in the bathroom when John B told her she was drunk. She had decided then to strip fully naked and walk out to get clothes from John B’s room and somehow neglected to consider the fact the boys would still be up. So she had walked out, butt ass naked and when Pope had shrieked and then she had stood there in the kitchen and argued with John B for a good five minutes about why she couldn’t just walk around naked. She had woken up buttoned backward in one of his shirts with men's boxers on, face down in JJ’s bed.

This was different.

She wasn’t drunk enough to blow this off, but they were all close enough now for this to be relatively normal. Then there was the crush factor to consider. Yeah, forgot to mention that. Over the summer, her heart had decided to do this thing where, whenever JJ was in her immediate vicinity, it beat, like, triple speed.

One of the boys whistled as Kie and Sarah emerged, JJ probably, followed by the sound of skin hitting skin and a groan of pain. Definitely JJ.

“Fuck was _that_?” He hissed as the girls made their way to the group. He was doubled over holding his crotch and wincing.

John B shrugged, “don’t be a perv, man”.

“Fair,” JJ said, his voice still a few octaves higher than usual. He looked up at the girls and smiled, “it was a joke”.

Kie scoffed.

“Nice tattoos, by the way, matching, cool!” JJ said.

Pope muttered, “actual perv”.

“What?,” JJ asked, his tone playful, “they have matching black ink on their hips! I’m stupid, not blind.”

“Clearly,” Sarah teased, “we surfing or what?”

Surfing naked was not as fun as it sounded.

They all lay on their boards, opting to not get wax in places it _really_ shouldn’t be.

Pope got the first wave. It was a doozy, a proper closeout that spat him out hard, but he returned triumphant.

“Verdict?” John B asked as Pope paddled closer.

“Freeing,” he decided, “weird, but freeing”.

“ _Perfect,”_ JJ grinned.

The next wave up Kie didn’t think to check for the other’s who turned to paddle. She pushed through the water and then she was up on her board, hollering as she sped down the wave.

She heard the sound of another board and glanced to her left. Sure enough, JJ was there next to her and he shot her a grin.

“How good is this?” He called.

“Not as good as this!” She made a sharp turn with her board, flicking the nose so that she was close enough to JJ to make out the colour of his eyes before reaching over in one swift movement and shoving her hands against his chest. The splash he made was satisfying.

When Kie made it out the back JJ pouted at her.

“What?” She teased, “don’t surf like a grom if you don’t wanna get treated like one!”.

He blew a raspberry at her and she laughed.

On their return to shore, Kie was thankful for drying out her clothes. As she and Sarah changed, the boys had started a fire up by the rocks where there was an overhang the planned to sleep under.

“This is good,” she said, stretching out in front of the fire.

“Okay, make room,” JJ shoved her legs aside and plonked down next to her, offering her a beer which she gladly accepted.

Pope passed out first, legs up a rock on an awkward angle and snoring.

Sarah and John B fell asleep next, curled around each other in a way that Kiara thought couldn’t possibly be comfortable.

“They’re gross, huh?” JJ said from where he lay next to her.

She hummed like the word _what?_.

“Those two, all in love like that. Gross.”

Kie smiled and looked back at her friends, “I think it’s sweet. They’ve been through hell together and as long as they’re happy, I’m happy.”

“I’d go through hell for you.”

_What?_

“I mean,” JJ continued, “I’d go through hell for all of you”.

In the dim glow of the fire, Kie could have sworn he was blushing.

“I’d go through hell for you too, JJ.”

She heard him suck air through his teeth. JJ was someone who needed constant reminding of just how loved he was, He tended to forget, and then he would get all moody until someone hugged him.

They lay in silence for a while and Kie listened to the crashing of the waves somewhere in the distance.

“I can’t stop thinking about the day we met,” he said suddenly.

Kie smiled to herself, “that was when I fixed your hands, wasn’t it?”

He nodded.

“God, that feels like forever ago.”

“Forever,” JJ agreed.

There was something in the silence that followed that Kie had noticed creeping in more and more often. It always came after statements like that, like the words charged the moment with a tension she could almost touch. She didn’t want to read into things. JJ flirted with every girl he spoke to and why was she any different? The one girl he wouldn’t flirt with was Sarah, and that was for obvious reasons. She rolled onto her side, facing JJ, and watched his chest rise and fall for a minute or so. He was someone you could never find at peace, so she loved moments like this where he was off in his own world, not bothered to focus on the world around them

“See something you like?” He joked, not looking at her.

She hummed noncommittally, doing her best to stay calm despite the fact he had definitely caught her staring. Her heart was doing the triple speed thing and her mind raced as she considered her next move. What was the harm in trying? The two of them had always been exceptionally close, both loving the physicality of close friendships. Always an arm around shoulders or wrapping around a waist from behind. Hell, she’d even shared a bed with him a hundred times, doing her best to casually roll out of his arms when she woke up wrapped in them. He never commented on it, always just letting her go.

With a quiet deep breath, she raised her head and shuffled closer, coming to rest with her head on his chest. She could feel his heart racing against the side of her face, or maybe it was just hers. JJ’s hand came up from his side, wriggling through the space between them and he draped it around her shoulders, brushing her hair down and she suddenly realised it must be all in his face.

“Sorry,” she said, raising herself up to smooth her hair under her.

JJ’s arm tightened around her, bringing her back quickly.

They lay like that for a while, staring up at the brilliant stars in the sky.

JJ brought his other arm up to join his other around her, loosely joining his hands, holding her in place. Kie readjusted, moving further up his chest so that her mouth was in line with his collarbone. He shivered as her breath fanned his neck.

“Cold?” She asked, not wanting to look up at him.

“Nah, you know me; human heater.”

She laughed breathily, not wanting to move, and JJ’s arms tightened again.

“ _Kie,_ ” he said, voice barely above a whisper, “what are you doing?”.

She finally looked up at him, “something I should have a long time ago”.

Kissing JJ was like putting aloe vera on sunburn, finally scratching an itch.

He made a small noise as Kie’s lips joined his and she giggled. His hands moved from where they held her, roaming her waist and back, moving into her hair and pulling her closer than she ever thought possible. She kissed JJ lazily, exhausted after a long day on the waves and JJ mumbled against her lips as her head sank down to rest on his shoulder.

“Sleepy?” He asked with a smile.

Kie hummed into his neck and JJ laughed, a sound that never failed to make her heart sing, as he tucked a curl behind her ear.

“Then get some sleep, baby.”

Neither of them had considered the _holy shit JJ and Kie are cuddling when did this happen_ factor of falling asleep together with their best friends next to them, but it didn’t matter, they were waking up easy.

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi on tumblr @simpforjiara  
> or check out my instagram @svaintz  
> <3


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